Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead. You Oughta Know... That Ryan Zimmerman just keeps getting hits. It's easy to forget about Zimmerman because the Nationals have been playing so poorly this year, but Zimmerman extended his streak to 27 games on Saturday.
Zimmerman was hitless until his eighth-inning solo homer, which turned out to be the deciding run in the Nats' 2-1 victory over the Diamondbacks, their third win in a row.
Zimmerman's streak is getting to the point that it's worth paying close attention. This doesn't hapen every day. The last player to have a hitting streak of at least 27 games was Moises Alou, who hit in 30 consecutive games for the Mets in 2007. The franchise record is 31 games, set by Vladimir Guerrero in 1999.
Zimmerman will face Arizona's Max Scherzer today. Zimmerman has never faced Scherzer. Starting on Monday, the Nats will be in San Francisco for a three-game series in which they'll face Randy Johnson, Matt Cain and Barry Zito.
This news will probably be greeted worldwide with the following reaction: "Moises Alou? Retiring? I thought he retired five years ago."
It only seems that way. In actuality, Alou has been with the Mets for two seasons, spending most of that timerehabbing from various injuries and finding a little time for 328 at-bats in 2007 and 49 last season. At the age of 42, the writing is on the wall for Alou, who says that the World Baseball Classic will probably be his last stop.
While the Phillies remain interested in Nomar Garciaparra, he's mulling over whether or not to just retire and hang out with "Beautiful" full-time. This means they are looking into a Plan B, and apparently Moises Alou is on the radar.
Alou's always hit, there's no question about that. In 17 seasons, he's put together an impressive line of ratios: .303/.369/.516 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage). He's likely still got some pop left in that bat, but -- at age 42 -- he's not getting any younger, either. He's also a pretty bad defensive player.
With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time.
The 1s
Tampa Bay (9-4) at Atlanta (8-5): It is nice that the the NFC South is playing Nikki Hilton to the NFC East's Paris, creating a competitive rivalry for best division in the league. The South is professional, successful and downright fun to watch, as you could see Monday night. I am still riding the "Matt Ryan for MVP" train directly into the station, and he is getting a lot of help from the likes of Brett Favre, Drew Brees and Kurt Warner, who haven't exactly been lighting it up the last few weeks. Both are coming off a loss last week, so if either one of these teams want to keep playoff hopes alive, they must card a victory.
Explain this to me -- we have flex scheduling but can't make this one a primetime event? I don't get it.
Our MLB editor files dispatches from the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas in Notes From Sin City.
While the baseball world watches and waits for Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia to make up their mind, or even just for a scrap from super-agent Scott Boras, closer Francisco Rodriguez has become the belle of the Winter Meetings ball.
Though the Mets have yet to publicly acknowledge that they have signed the record-setting reliever, it is widely believed that Rodriguez has agreed to a three-year deal with the club worth roughly $37 million and containing a vesting option for a fourth year that could push its value past $50 million.
Problem solved, right? Third straight September swoon averted, right? Hardly.
Look, there's no doubt that the Mets' biggest need heading into the offseason was to fix their wretched bullpen. And there's no doubt that Rodriguez is a big part of the puzzle in that regard. But they also play in the same division as the reigning world champions and a pair of clubs in the Marlins and Braves who are capable of winning 85-plus games if things break right.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.
It's obvious that Billy Beane doesn't understand the concept of Footprints in the Snow. You see first, we tell major league GMs what they oughta do, then we predict what they will actually do. After that, the GMs go and do something nobody expects and they show us why they're running baseball teams and we're blogging about it.
Beane has the order wrong. He's not supposed to go and leave his footprints in the offseason snow before we write about it? What fun is that? But that's exactly what Billy did yesterday as he went and traded for Matt Holliday. So what you're about to read is a second draft done through the prism of the Holliday trade. Thanks a lot Billy. Next time, could you take better notes at our meetings?
As Brinson told you about yesterday, the unfairly vilified Steve Bartman was offered $25,000 by an online sports memorabilia site to sign a picture of him interfering with a foul ball in the 2003 NLCS at Wrigley Field. All Steve would have had to do was show up at a sports collectible convention in Rosemont, Illinois, sign the picture, and cash the check.
Unfortunately there's one factor that Sportsbuy.com didn't take into consideration before making this offer, and that's that Steve Bartman cannot be bought! He doesn't need your stinking money.
Bartman friend Frank Murtha says that Bartman won't accept an offer of $25,000. For the money, all Bartman would have to do is attend the National Sports Collectors Convention in Rosemont and autograph a photograph taken of when he tipped a foul ball that seemed destined for Cubs' outfielder Moises Alou's glove during a 2003 playoff game with the Florida Marlins.
Bartman has declined all offers to appear or make money off his brush with fame.
I don't know if I'd call it a brush with fame as much as a brush with infamy, but to each his own I suppose. Can't we just leave this guy alone, though? It's been five years since it happened, and the Cubs kind of have other more important things going on at the moment. Considering that Bartman completely dropped off the face of the earth after that fateful night in October 2003, and has done a very good job of staying there, I think it's pretty obvious he doesn't want to be pigeonholed with this the rest of his life. It wasn't even his fault the Cubs lost that NLCS anyway.
The good news is that all those nagging injuries that Moises Alou has been getting in his never ending minor league rehab stints have come to an end. The bad news is that's because his latest injury has turned out to be pretty significant.
Omar Minaya announced after today's game that Alou's hamstring, which Josh told you was giving him problems during a rehab game in Binghamton last night, is torn ... and surgery has been recommended. If Alou does opt for surgery, he's most likely out for the season.
Certainly, most people out in the crowd would advise Moises to hang it up, that it's not worth being away from his family to go on these endless minor league assignments to go back to the major leagues even though he's done almost everything you can do in the game. Certainly a stark contrast to a guy like Brett Favre who, as far as we know, is perfectly healthy yet has an entire city's psyche under siege with his sudden indecisiveness. And this is not to get on Favre, but to give Alou a lot of credit for continuing the work and going through the setbacks because he's 100% sure that he wants to play major league baseball. There's something noble and tragic about it at the same time. But if Alou wants to continue at it next season, even though the final result might not be what he would want, then more power to him.
"It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up." That's a quote from Muhammed Ali on boxing. Moises Alou might say something similar, except for the beating people up part. Instead, he'd say I constantly hurt myself.
Alou's quest to return to the Mets lineup hit another snag in Connecticut last night. Alou pulled himself out of a rehab start for AA Binghamton when he felt his left hamstring seize up. That's the same leg that contains the strained calf that's kept him on the sideline for most of this season. He'll have an MRI and meet with the team's medical staff in New York today.
"Same leg, different part," Alou told the Daily News. "I throw my arms up."
Sadly, when he threw his arms up he dislocated both shoulders. Just a day in the life for the world's most fragile outfielder.
Omar Minaya has to be burning up the phones in search of a trade. The Mets are only a game and a half back of the Phillies thanks to a five-game winning streak. They've been doing it with a collection of reserves like Fernando Tatis and Damion Easley in the lineup but that will catch up to them at some point. With Ryan Church back on the DL and Alou unreliable, they need to fortify their lineup for the second half.
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups
San Francisco Giants (30-40) vs. Detroit Tigers (32-37) - 10:05PM Est.
It's been a very odd year for the Detroit Tigers. After getting off to a horrible start this season, there have been times when they seem to be getting their act together and then suddenly they're horrible again in the blink of an eye. As Joe Morgan would probably say if you asked him about it, "I'm friends with Gary Sheffield." "They're consistently inconsistent."
Still, after sweeping the division-leading Chicago White Sox last week, I asked the question if this was the start of the Tigers turnaround. Was it a sign of things to come?
Well, the Tigers didn't stop there as they followed that sweep with another one against the Dodgers this weekend, and they've now won six in a row to creep back into the race.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead. 
This news will probably be greeted worldwide with the following reaction: "Moises Alou? Retiring? I thought he retired five years ago."
While the Phillies remain interested in 
As 
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